Distributing management of data storage among multiple system components lessens coordination burdens for systems. For example, network-based services are increasingly utilized to provide highly available solutions to common computing needs. Typically network-based services may utilize virtual hosts to provide easily configurable environments for implementing network-based operations and services. Virtualized hosts remove the necessity of interacting directly with underlying physical hardware, and instead manage in virtual fashion many of the various functions provided by physical machine. While the benefits of virtual machines lessen the burdens on developers to design and implement applications, virtual machines may also reduce performance processes operating the virtual environment. For example, virtual machines typically control various functions like memory management, reducing opportunities for application developers to optimize the performance of their applications. In effect, each virtual machine may manage the respective memory of the virtual machine without regard to the effect of memory management operations, such as memory reclamation, upon the wider distributed system. Similarly for other systems implementing distributed management of data storage, independent management may lead to sub-optimal performance of the system, as the timing of individual storage management operations may be inefficient with respect the system as a whole.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include”, “including”, and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.